Edgar Allan Poe — “X-ing a Paragrab”

Commentary:

Characters:

(narrator) - Under development.

Setting:

Location - Under development.

Date - Under development.

Summary:

Under development.This slight, comical story may be surprising to readers accustomed only to his dark tales of terror and morbid
psychology. It is his last published tale. A “printer’s devil” was the designation given to the person, often a
young boy in these days of child labor, who performed the menial tasks involved with the printing trade, usually as a kind of
apprenticeship. The origin of the term is obscure. In giving Bob a lisp, Poe is apparently attempting to emphasize his
youthfulness. Other dialectic touches reveal Bob’s lack of formal education.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Reading and Reference Texts:

Reading copy:

“X-ing a Paragrab” — reading copy

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Historical Texts:

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

Text-01 — “X-ing a Paragrab” — about February 1849, no original manuscript or fragments
are known to exist (but this version is presumably recorded in Text-02) — (Mabbott speculates that this “story was
probably written not long before publication,” 3:1368. In the Flag of Our Union for May 5, 1849 appears the following
note: “ ‘X-ing a Paragraph’ [[sic]] a capital prose sketch, by our regular contributor, EDGAR A. POE, [[shall
appear]] in our next number” p. 3, col. 1. Poe, then, had sent it before the beginning of May. Poe’s letter of about
March 1, 1849 to Annie Richmond is undated but mentions that “The Flag has 2 of my tales now — Hop-Frog & another
called ‘X-ing a Paragrab’: — guess what that is about if you can!” The same letter also mentions
“A Valentine” in a context which suggests that it dates from about March 1.)

Text-02 — “X-ing a Paragrab” — May 12, 1849 —
Flag of Our Union — (Mabbott text A) (For the reuse of this text in a 1849 reprint of
Ingraham’s novel The Spanish Galleon, see the entry below, under reprints. For Griswold’s 1856 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints.)

Reprints:

“X-ing a Paragrab” — 1849 — accompanying J. H.
Ingraham’s novel The Spanish Galleon (and several stories from the Flag of Our Union) — (Mabbott
text B) (This text is not just a reprint from the Flag of Our Union, but actually reuses the same type from the
newspaper.)

“A Printshop Story by Edgar Allen [[Allan]] Poe” — November 5, 1916 — American
Printer and Lithographer (New York, NY), vol. 63, no. 9 (This reprint bears the following headnote: “As it is not
generally known that Poe wrote humorously, or attempted to do so, this story written almost three-quarters of a century ago will
interest printers and publishers everywhere.”)